The Bug Selig era in Major League Baseball which began in 1992 when he took office on an interim basis, has been arguably the most controversial of any Commissioner in the history of the game.  Overall, he has done some great things in taking the sport to new heights.  One of which has to be the creation of the wild card in the playoff system.  By adding this extra team to the playoff format, it’s put a great deal of excitement into the pennant chase within the last two months of the season.  With so many other teams feeling as though they have a shot, fans are coming to the ballpark in record attendance numbers.  He’s truly been a great ambassador for the game of baseball.

Unfortunately, no one will be remembering any of the good things he did because of two colossal mistakes he’s made since being in office.  He allowed the steroids era to exist the way it did while it totally wiped away many of the baseball records that stood for decades, but that’s a topic for another time.  For the point of this article, he’s absolutely refused to add the dimension of instant replay to the game on a full time basis.

The biggest complaint that Bud Selig has had about instituting instant replay on a full time basis is that it will take away from the tradition of the game.  In some respects I could agree with him, but then I wake up from my nap and realize that this needs to happen.  Major League Baseball is a multi-billion dollar industry that has so much money and fan support involved.  So it begs the question, why not take care of the game?  The game has changed a great deal since 1960.  You need to change with the times in order to make the sport the best it can be.

When you look at all of the major sports leagues, each of them has instituted instant replay for critical plays that could tilt the game one way or the other.  They’ve recognized the importance of getting the calls right the first time.  However our friend Mr. Selig doesn’t seem to share their insight on the matter.  While he has approved its use on a minimal basis, they are still a long way to go in making things right.

This last postseason saw so many critical situations in which the umpires blew the call and it couldn’t be reviewed on the monitor.  In some cases, it translated to an extra run or two that turned out to be the difference in the game.  When each team puts so much effort into their performance, it’s kind of disheartening when they are the better team, but they lost because of a formality.

More than anything else, the thing that makes me sad about this entire issue is the umpires.  They go out there doing the best they can to make the right calls, but sometimes they get it wrong.  Whether they don’t get in the right position to make the call or they just didn’t see it right, it’s going to happen when there is a human element involved.  Without having instant replay involved to a greater extent, it puts immense pressure on the umpires to get the call right.

I’m sure Royals and Cardinals fans remember the 1985 World Series for being one of the most exciting in the history of the game.  What was dubbed as the “I-70 Showdown Series” brought seven thrilling games that saw the Kansas City Royals claim their first Championship. This became Bret Saberhagen’s coming out party as he was named World Series MVP.

While this World Series was one of the most memorable, it’s unfortunately remembered for the wrong reasons. Going into game six, the Cardinals were leading the Series 3-2 and primed to wrap up the Championship. The Cardinals had 1-0 lead going into the ninth inning with All-Star Closer Todd Worrell on the mound. The first batter of the inning was pinch hitter Jorge Orta. He proceeded to hit a sharp ground ball to Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark, who tossed to Worrell covering first base. After the play, it was clear on the television cameras that he was out at first. However, the first base Umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe at first and then everything started falling apart for the Cardinals. Then after a couple of errors, a walk and a passed ball the Royals won the game 2-1 to force a game 7. After this blown call, the Cardinals never recovered as they lost game 7 11-0.

While the Royals were soaking in their Champagne, Umpire Don Denkinger went back to civilian life where he had to deal with hateful Cardinal fans who couldn’t forget his blown call.  At first, he started getting hate letters and then it turned into death threats against his family.  From there, things went even further as two St. Louis disc jockeys actually gave out his home address and phone number to their listening audience.  Due to all the threats, they had a police car parked outside their home for up to a year.  Toward the end of 1987, the hate letters finally came to an end.  However, the impact that this had on Don Denkinger and his entire family cannot be diminished.  Because of the mistake that he made, Cardinal fans took it personally and wanted to make him pay.

We all come from different walks of life and various occupations.  Some of our jobs are more stressful than others, but most of us aren’t held accountable for our mistakes like Don Denkinger was.  I know there are a lot of passionate fans out there, but these fans went absolutely too far in trying to make him pay.

When you think about it, how would Don Denkinger’s life had been different if Major League Baseball had instant replay in 1985?  It goes without saying, that the controversial call would have been overturned and the Cardinals would likely had won the World Series, but look at what a game did to ruin a families life?  This was all because some crazy fans took it personal about one bad call.

Now, I’m not implying that Bud Selig needs to get instant reply in order to avoid what happened to Don Denkinger.  I am however; talking about how instant replay would eliminate a lot of pressure off the umpires and allow teams to win strictly on their performance, not by getting a run on a botched call.

While I applaud Bud Selig for trying to preserve the historic nature of the National Pastime, he needs to realize what is happening to this great game without having instant replay.